COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious respiratory and vascular disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). First identified in Wuhan, China, it has caused an ongoing pandemic.

Common symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, fatigue, breathing difficulties, and loss of smell and taste. Symptoms begin one to fourteen days after exposure to the virus. While most people have mild symptoms, some people develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). ARDS can be precipitated by cytokine storms, multi-organ failure, septic shock, and blood clots. Longer-term damage to organs (in particular, the lungs and heart) has been observed. There is concern about a significant number of patients who have recovered from the acute phase of the disease but continue to experience a range of effects—known as long COVID—for months afterwards. These effects include severe fatigue, memory loss and other cognitive issues, low grade fever, muscle weakness, and breathlessness.

COVID-19 mainly spreads through the air when people are near each other long enough, primarily via small droplets or aerosols, as an infected person breathes, coughs, sneezes, sings, or speaks. Transmission via fomites (contaminated surfaces) has not been conclusively demonstrated. It can spread as early as two days before infected persons show symptoms (presymptomatic), and from asymptomatic (no symptoms) individuals. People remain infectious for up to ten days in moderate cases, and two weeks in severe cases. The standard diagnosis method is by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) from a nasopharyngeal swab.

Preventive measures include social distancing, quarantining, ventilation of indoor spaces, covering coughs and sneezes, hand washing, and keeping unwashed hands away from the face. The use of face masks or coverings has been recommended in public settings to minimize the risk of transmissions.

Several COVID-19 vaccines have been approved and distributed in various countries, which have initiated mass vaccination campaigns. Other preventive measures include physical or social distancing, quarantining, ventilation of indoor spaces, covering coughs and sneezes, hand washing, and keeping unwashed hands away from the face. The use of face masks or coverings has been recommended in public settings to minimize the risk of transmission. While work is underway to develop drugs that inhibit the virus, the primary treatment is symptomatic. Management involves the treatment of symptoms, supportive care, isolation, and experimental measures.

COVID-19 in "The Breaking of Nations"

The second outbreak of COVID-19 in 2024 claimed the life of U.S. President Donald Trump, among others.